VIDEO SERIES: Love Muslims

Source: Prayercast

On May 5, as Ramadan is about to start, Prayercast will begin releasing 130 new, short videos designed to stimulate focused, strategic, passionate prayer for the Muslim world.

Each video is four to five minutes long and led by a former Muslim who now follows Jesus, many sharing stories of healing and transformation. Prayercast will send you an email reminder each day of Ramadan with a brand new video to inspire you to praise and prayer.

Know someone you can invite to watch and pray with you?

» Learn more and sign up or look at other resources from Prayercast.

» See also 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World.

BOOK: Serving Well

Source: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)

Serving Well: Help for the Wannabe, Newbie, or Weary Cross-cultural Christian Worker, by Elizabeth and Jonathan Trotter (Resource Publications, 2019). 378 pages.

Serving cross-culturally or planning to? You’ve got to read this book!

With more than 100 chapters, it covers everything from how prepare well to how to return well, with reflections and insight on moving overseas; taking care of your heart, marriage, and children; relationships, communication, pitfalls, and what to do when things don’t go as planned.

An emphasis on cultivating self-knowledge and emotional awareness comes through strong.

The book is comprehensive, funny, deep, and well written. I think it would be a good one to read or even read aloud with a spouse, friend, or teammate. You could use chapters to stimulate team discussion. Pastors and member-care types might want to read it, too, and use it as a resource to share with others.

The Trotters serve in Cambodia. Both write for the great collaborative missions blog A Life Overseas. Elizabeth is the editor-in-chief. Jonathan spends his days as a pastoral counselor.

» Learn more or purchase this book from Amazon. The Kindle edition is going for US$9.99. Want the paperback? Wipf and Stock is selling it for US$20, a 20% discount on the cover price.

» Another new missions book is making a strong debut. The title suggests a quite different tone. See A Company of Heroes: Portraits from the Gospel’s Global Advance, by Tim Keesee.

PODCASTS: A Roundup

Sources: various

God Network News, now up to 100 episodes, shares news and stories of what God is doing around the world. They are running a series of testimonies and stories from the Middle East.

Global Missions Podcast features interviews to help Christians participate more effectively in local and global ministry, also reached 100 episodes not long ago. The producers shared a list of their favorite episodes.

Engaging Missions recently put out two episodes on loving Muslims and several more about depending on God.

Missions Pulse is an interesting new missions podcast from prolific author and mobilizer David Joannes.

Moving a bit out of the “missions” world, you might check out Bob Goff’s Dream Big podcast, or Five Minutes in Church History.

» What have you been listening to? Let us know through comments on our website, Facebook, or Twitter (or of course by responding to this email).

EVENTS: Coming up in May

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

Note: USA-based mission mobilizers may also be interested in Mobilization Ideation events planned across the country during the month of May. I’ll be joining the one next week in Atlanta. Any of you planning to be there?

May 2, National Day of Prayer (USA).

May 2, Mapping Church Missions: A Compass for Ministry Strategy (online). Webinar from Missio Nexus.

May 2-5, Christian Medical and Dental Association (Ridgecrest, NC, USA). National Convention; an annual event.

May 2-30, Foundations of New Media Strategy (online). Mentored course on using social media for deeper conversations and disciple-making. Offered by Mission Media U.

May 3-5, BAM Conference Europe (Bucharest, Romania). Business as Mission.

May 6-7, Support Raising Bootcamp (Winter Park, FL, USA). Provided by Support Raising Solutions.

May 6 to June 4, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World (global). An annual prayer campaign.

May 6 to September 8, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online).

May 7 to June 4, Using Mobile Phones in Missions (online). Mentored course to leverage ministry outreach using mobile phones. Offered by Mission Media U.

May 9-12, GO Equipped Tentmaking Course (Atlanta, GA, USA).

May 19 to June 14, Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA). Provided by the Center for Intercultural Training.

May 20 to August 18, Encountering the World of Islam (online).

May 24-25, Engaging Islam Weekend (Dearborn, MI, USA). Provided by Horizons International.

May 27-31, Engaging Islam Institute (Dearborn, MI, USA). Provided by Horizons International.

May 31 to June 2, Everywhere to Everywhere (Sioux Falls, SD, USA). Missional training and outreach event.

May 31 to June 2, Invitation Prayer Retreat (Choctaw, OK, USA). Introduction to contemplative prayer from Beautiful Feet Boot Camp.

» View the complete calendar. Contact us to suggest additions. Want to know more about a specific event? Contact the event organizers.

SYRIA: “Every Day, We Live the Resurrection”

Source: Open Doors, April 15, 2019

Three years ago, the church in Syria was all but dead. The vicious civil war and invasion by Islamic State militants threatened the very existence of Christianity. But our partners on the ground say the story is changing and continues to transform. God is resurrecting the church in Syria.

Still, becoming a Christian and expressing your faith in the Muslim nation (814,000 Christians out of 18 million people) is a risky choice. If or when their conversion is discovered, new believers could lose their family, friends, their job, even their life.

Recently, we were privileged to be there when a group of young adults from the Alliance Church in the city of Aleppo gathered to worship. Listen and sing along with them as they proclaim, “Christ the Lord is risen today.”

» Read full story and watch the video. You might also be interested in Open Doors’ booklet Rise Up: 40 Days of Prayer for the Middle East (free, but you have to sign up for their mailing list).

NIGERIA: A Christian Perspective of a Community in Conflict

Source: INcontext Ministries, April 9, 2019

During the first three months of 2019, hundreds of lives were lost, and hundreds of homes were burned, raising new concerns about the truth behind the violence occurring between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and predominantly Christian Bachama farmers in Nigeria.

In addition to the seemingly countless numbers of people killed, it has been estimated that as many as 300,000 people (mostly Christian farmers) have been displaced from their homes by the violence.

[Some narratives] label the Muslim Fulani attacks against Christian farmers as a “genocide” perpetrated by radicalized Muslims looking to drive Christians from their homes. But even though this might be fully true, it is not the full truth.

» Read more.

» See also Seeking God on the Edge of the Sahara (Pioneers USA).

KENYA: Africa, Your Time Has Come!

Source: WEA News, April 14, 2019

The Senior Leadership Team of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) together with several regional Alliance and WEA network leaders attended the Opening Celebration of the AEA Plaza. The 10-story building in Nairobi, Kenya, that will serve as the new headquarters of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa is the fulfilment of a vision and the result of many years of labor. Bp Efraim Tendero, WEA Secretary General, was invited to share remarks at the ceremony and commended the great achievement, saying “Africa, your time has come!”

» Read full story and watch the five-minute video of the Secretary General’s remarks.

» Also read an article that states, “Africa is set to be the global center of Christianity for the next 50 years” (QuartzAfrica).

CHINA: Christians Cry after Receiving Their First Bibles

Source: Christian Headlines, March 21, 2019

“In the West, we often take the Bible for granted, but I recently saw a video … of underground Chinese seminary students receiving their first Bible,” wrote Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern. “When the boxes were opened, they all converged on the box to make sure they got their own copy. Each one then held their Bible, kissed it, and wept. They had finally received the book that gives life!”

The video is at least five years old and shows several dozen Christians in a building opening the box. International Christian Concern said none of the Christians are in danger because of its release. International Christian Concern posted the video on its website and on social media this month as part of its new campaign to raise money for Bibles to be sent to countries where Christianity is either outlawed or severely restricted.

Christians in the US said the video is convicting.

“If only we had the same zeal as these students,” Susan Elise Pearson wrote on International Christian Concern’s Facebook page.

Charity Meyer [added], “How beautiful. It made me realize how much I take reading and holding my Bible for granted and that my life is so easy.”

Satan “knows well that the Bible is the most dangerous book in the world,” King said.

“Everywhere it goes, it smuggles Jesus and his Spirit into the hearts of dead and dying humanity, and exposes Satan and his schemes,” King wrote. “The Bible is, in fact, spiritual fertilizer. Everywhere it goes, life springs up.”

» Read full story and watch the video (less than a minute long).

» See also a video about a small tribe in Northeast India receiving scripture lovingly translated into their language for the first time (Asia Harvest), and read North Korea: More than 100 Underground Churches Planted in 2018 (Cornerstone Ministries via God Reports).

FRANCE: Notre Dame Cathedral Burns

Sources: various, April 2019

This was all over the news, but here are a few pieces we recommend:

» See also, from a ministry colleague, May God Bring Beauty from Ashes in France, which includes scripture and links to other sources (Jen Oshman).